we have a winner. ♪ there she goes ♪ there she goes again >> we should not have to increase the debt ceiling. >> michele bachmann looks like the front runner in iowa. ♪ there she goes again >> i thought when others ran, i thought that i was proved right in my position. >> and the race for 2012 is off to a wild start. ♪ there's speeding back >> happy birthday, mr. president. >> i can respond to that. ♪ there she goes we begin with all eyes on iowa where the political schmooze fest that is the iowa ames straw poll kicks off tomorrow. before you think it is a bunch of politicians eating the fried twinkies and pundits testing the prevailing winds, know that iowa is one of the crucial states of

2012 and states where obama won in 2008 and now polls below 50%. since 1987, the results of the iowa poll stroll have predicted the gop candidate. and if michele bachmann tops the straul, this is going to be serious, folks, and ms. bachmann knows it. that is why she is poised and ready to highlight her accomplishments at the debate last night for republicans. >> i introduced the lightbulb freedom of choice act so that people could purchase the lightbulb of their choice. >> see what i mean? and she sparred with fellow tennesseean tim pawlenty, leaving others with smiles and even when tim pawlenty offered to mow mitt romney's lawn. >> i will come to your house and

mow the lawn, and in case mitt wins, i'm limited to one acre. one acre. >> that is is just fine. >> as for governor romney, he enjoyed the place of privilege staying above the fray, and taking his verbal jabs to president obama. >> look, i'm not going to eat barack obama's dog food, and what he served up is not what i would have done if i were president of the united states. >> president obama's dog food -- really? we can see the governor at the country club now. >> tell the cook this is low-grade dog food, and here, take this for yourself, okay. >> and of course, romney's big challenge may come from texas governor rick perry who is due to announce the bid tomorrow and travel to the hawkeye state sunday. for more on this we go to our man in iowa domenico montonado who is there. and did the debate last night change the der rterrain at all iowa? >> well, it is interesting,

jonath jonathan, because this is a candidate where the candidates pointed at each other for first time and signaled that this debate is all about ames. and tim pawlenty, and michele bachmann have the most at stake for ames, and minnesota-nice, it was not. >> and so, domenico, some say that this is the dating phase and the big dance before the republicans decide what candidate they want to marry for the caucuses, so who has the fullest dance card, and who's playing the sad wallflower? [ laughter ] >> i don't even know how to continue the extended metaphor there, but, look, michele bachmann clearly needs the win. rick perry getting in, she is going to have some competition for the t-evangelical mold, because they both appeal to the tea party and the evangelical

mold, and everyone is talking about iowa and new hampshire, but only south carolina since 1980 has the republican nominee won every time since 1980. here in iowa, it is 2 of the last 5 since '80. so you know, kit can go either way, but a lot is riding on the straw poll for bachmann and pawlenty. >> and domenico, we have heard that trucks are riding around asking to write in rick perry, and can you make a prediction for the showing of the straw poll? >> well, they are looking for 250 votes, the americans for rick perry, and by the way, he is an aggie, and texas a&m guy, and they have been all walking around with burnt orange t-shirts which is the longhorns, and that not going to work in my colleague mark murrayle could fill you in a little bit more on that since he is a u.t. grad,

but they are getting maroon t-shirts from what i have heard, but he is not going to wind up placing well here. i think that there is a little bit of a push. they have been prominent here, and they want to make sure that they keep iowa as something that he definitely has something on the front bunner, arner, and it difficult line to walk, because you didn't want to step on the straw poll and irritate iowa, but you need to campaign and get some buzz. >> domenico montonado, thank you. for more on the straw race, let's join our political panel karen finny from los angeles, and in here in the studio msnbc contributor joy ann reid. and karen, let me start with you, an important contest tomorrow, but what are the consequences of coming out of the straw poll tomorrow? >> well, i think they in a couple of things, number one, who is obviously in first and second place, and then who may decide over the weekend that it

is time for them to drop out. one thing though with the two people who are not yet in the race, both last name beginning with the letter "p" are clouding what the real results will mean tomorrow, because you have governor perry say heg is ing h going to get in an announce and sarah palin who has not announced, she always gets attention, so that may mean that the results are a little bit skewed, because if you are someone who thinks that maybe i will hold out and see if palin is going to get in, you may not, and choose not the vote in the straw poll, so it is going to be mixed results, and obviously, pawlenty and bachmann are vying for what is likely the third place. >> joy ann, let's get into last night's debate, and michele bachmann was asked by moderator byron york about the time when her husband wanted her to get a tax law degree, and she thought it was a terrible idea, and here is the rest of the exchange. let's listen. >> you explain quote, but the

lord said be submissive, and wives, you are to be submissive to your husbands and as president, would you be submissive to your husband. [ audience booing ] >> thank you for the question, byron. what submissive means to us, if that is the question, it means respect. >> joy ann, was that a fair question? >> well, it is odd question and not something you would look to be in the debate, but it is an odd field and you have people in the field looking to cultivate the extreme evangelical vote who the christian faith is their calling card and badge of honor and for michele bachmann, it is a opportunity, but with rick perry on the horizon, she needs to solidify the christian conservative base, and it gave her a chance to plant her feet in the sand before rick perry gets in. >> and let's talk about the race here, because we have heard of pawlenty joking about mowing mitt romney's lawn, but how much

is this of fund-raising and getting the dollars on your side? >> well, pawlenty is hoping to have a strong showing and he can use that then to make an argument to the donors of how they should continue to give to the campaign. as you know last week, they made the decision to take the ads off of the air, and their spin was that they were focusing on the ground game which by the way for the straw poll is important, and it is all about organization and ground game, but within that was a clear signal they are running out of money, and so this is an important moment for candidates to be able to show their viability. >> joy ann, what about president obama? he was the target of serious jabs last night, and do you believe he is watching any of this? >> well, probably not, because unfortunately iowa has become a lot more marginalized for republican candidates and produces the mike huckabees of the world and the person who comes out of iowa does not generally fit the mainstream, an might not be viable in new hampshire and going forward. so i mean, i think that

definitely mitt romney running a general election-type campaign prematurely, because rick perry is out there, and they have to show to we hate obama wheaties for the base. >> i think that you are right. joy ann reid, and karen finny, thank you. and one more, hat in hand, and sarah palin show and the one nation bus tour rolled into the iowa state fair hours ago. that is is the same place that the republican candidates actually in the race have been visiting this week. glad handing with voters in search of the support before tomorrow's straw poll, but ms. palin as we know is not a candidate for president, yet, is she? >> why not do that thinking in wasilla? i think that the flame in the hawkeye state is too bright for ms. palin.

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on thursday in michigan, president obama made it clear he is engaged in the debate and questioning the motives of congress and sounding as much like a candidate as commander in chief. >> the only thing preventing these bills from being passed is the refusal of some folks in congress to put country ahead of party. there's some in congress right now who would rather see the opponents lose than see america win. and that has to stop. >> nbc's kristen welker joins us

live from the white house, and that sounds like candidate obama and is the white house fully back to campaign mode? >> well, it is hard to say. hi there, johnthan, and he was certainly fired up and white house officials would say that is the president's way of expressing or sharing the frustration of the american people right now. as you know a lot of frustration about the state of the economy, and all of the volatility on wall street, and as you know the president has really been hammered about this, and we saw it last night in the republican debate, and all of the candidates lashing out at him saying that the economy is the president's fault, and the high unemployment rate above 9% is still because he has not done enough to turn the econo kocono around and even members of his own party saying he has not shown enough leadership, and that is batting back the criticism and mentioned in the speech in michigan, he will be putting forth his own proposals to create new jobs, and interestingly we haven't gotten a time line, but all eyes

waiting to see the proposal, jonathan. >> and the president is meeting with business leaders today, and is the mission to put the screws to the ceoss of some of america's biggest xcompanies to try to get them to hire? >> well, it is billed as more of a ideas meeting and get their ideas of job growth and how to stimulate the economy and another way of focusing on the jobs and the economy, and he heads to the mid wewest next we where he is holding a rural economic summit, and many are wondering if he will put forth the proposal a thal that i talkt in the summit next week. >> we are looking at president obama greeting the green bay packers not far from the complex from you, but a short time ago, the 11th circuit court of appeals found that the health care plan of obama's mandate to have health insurance is

unconstitutional, and any word on that? >> well, it is contrary to the pictures now with the green bay packers, because it was a blow to the white house. the 11th circuit court of appeals ruled aspects of the law unconstitutionali and congress way overstepped the bounds in terms of passing the health care law, and the white house officials say they strongly disagree with the ruling. they also point out that four other courts have sided with the white house and congress on that ruling. so one interesting point there. either way, jonathan, this will likely by all accounts head to the supreme court, and we will be probably talking about these rulings for some time tom come, jonathan. >> chrkristen, one more questio. do we know what the president is up to this weekend? >> well, this weekend is a quiet weekend. he does not have anything on the public schedule. but he heads to minnesota monday and then to iowa and then to the midwest tour. jonathan? >> thank you, nx's kristen

welker. the question remains, does the president's ideas to jump start the economy and does have the political will to push them through a divided and stubborn congress. ezra klein is a analyst for msnbc, and colleague at the washington post. >> hi, jonathan. >> let me play part of what the president said on thursday, and get you the respond. take a look. >> over the coming weeks, i will be putting out more proposals week by week to help businesses hire and put people wac to work. bsh people back to work. i will keep at it until every single american who wants a job can find one. >> so, ezra, is this too little too late, and something he should have been focused on a year ago? >> yeah. this is quite a little bit too old too late. the administration has not used the points of leverage to fight for jobs, and now it doesn't have any. so during the debt ceiling talks said, a super committee, we won't do it unless it is charged, forced to offer up

recommendation for jobs, and those recommendations have the same protection triggers behind them and immune to filibuster amendments and they didn't do that and fight for it in the shutdown and didn't -- the only time they did is in the tax deal in 2010 when they used the leverage over the republicans with the bush tax cuts to get more payroll tax cut and more tax extenders, so it is great to bring up the proposals, but it is important to keep the attention on the issue, but there is not a clear political strategy behind them in the way that the republicans have had a clear political strategy to force the deficit reduction and force spending cuts on to the table. >> ezra, let me ask you in terms of the political strategy, could it be that the obama administration is trying to put these proposals forth to a congress that it knows i think that will go nowhere and the president can run against congress all next year? >> i think they will certainly run against congress next year, but on the other hand, and you know me, jonathan, i'm not and fap of the political strategies of that, and in tend whether barack obama gets re-elected or

the democrats do well in 2012, it is state of the labor market and not the back and forth between the parties on the labor market. >> and now we know the players of the super committee ap a pointed to come up with solutions for the debt crisis, do you have any hope that the group will work together for a serious proposal? >> well, it depends what the parties want, and there is a enormous amount of attention on each individual person, but it will be what the party wants them to do. unless mitch mcconnell, an john boehner and nancy pelosi and barack obama want to pass something, it has not passed. so it will decide if it is in all of their interests to get something out of the supercommittee, and if not, we will see the trigger go off likely. >> and last week on wall street, we got a sliver of unemployment benefit claims. are we head for recovery or double-dip recession?

>> we are not seeing the labor recovery any time soon, but it does not mean that we are headed for a double-dip recession either. and i have been talking to a well respected economyist, and he says we are in a long economic contraction and not out of it for some time and currently congress is doing nothing to get us out of it quicker. so we are in bad shape, but we are not seeing the gdp go lower which is the technical definition of a recession. >> i was about to ask you, technically speaking, the united states is not in, and we pulled out of the recession of 2008, and am i remembering that correctly? >> yeah, pulled out in the summer of 2009, but the fact we technical technically pulled out of it, and the state of the economy shows you how divorced the language is with the reality. >> i will be handing the reins over to ezra next week.

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it is the first real indicator of how the republican field will shake out and who will be on the ticket come 2012. tomorrow's ames straw poll has the candidates sprinting from breakfast spots to soap boxes to aim to prove they have what it takes to get the vote and the funds to win iowa and the nomination. last time around mitt romney spent more than $2 million to win the straw poll, only to lose to mike huckabee in the caucuses. this year, he'll be up in new hampshire perhaps ceding the state to michele bachmann or surprise comeback from tim pawlenty or ron paul, and with sarah palin rolling in with the bus tour and rick perry jumping in the race, it is sure to be one of the most unpredictable straw polls in years. all of this in a crucial swing state where president obama is vulnerable in 2012. let's get more now with the democratic strategist julian epstein in san francisco, and julian, thank you for being

here. i want to first ask you about the debate last night. you have actually debated michele bachmann in the past. and how do you think that she did? >> i thought she did very well and last night's debate exploded the myth among the democrats that we have a weak republican field, and the democrats ought to disabuse themselves off that, and most of the republican candidates and particularly people like newt gingrich and bachmann and pawlenty all showed they debate very, very well, and they are quick on the feet and substantive. that is the good news for the republicans, but the bad news is that neither of them had an answer for the fundamental question that is plaguing the country which is how to get the economy going again, and the reason that we have a jobs crisis is because we have a demand problem, and nobody is putting money noin the economy and the businesses are not spending and the koj sumconsume not spending and nobody had a single answer for that problem. >> and julien, can they get away with not having an answer through the process, and nomination process and the general? >> well, yes, the republicans are pulled by the extreme right

wing which is looking at not economics, but in theology, and they believe that the thing that ails this country and the solution to this problems that we face is to cut government spending. the problem with that is that it is counterfactual, and there is no real serious economist in the country who believes right now that if the government begins to spend less mo e it will have a positive effect. and the only way that will work is to contract in the short term, and yes, we have to cut spending in the long term, but short-term, very, very few economists just as a matter of science it will have an effect that we want which is to get the consumers to start spending money and to start re-employing people, and i is counter intuitive to everything that we know about economics right now. >> and the republicans like to hand a win to the unexpected underdog and what about the poll tomorrow? any surprises you are watching for? >> yes, in 2008, it was a disaster for folks like tommy

thompson, and the governor of arkansas as you pointed out, as he became the shooting star in that race. there are several candidates for whom it is really make or break. tim pawlenty has to show well or his campaign could be done. if michele bachmann does not do well given that she is from iowa, she looks like what the critics have said about her which is that she is a shooting star. if mitt romney doesn't do particularly well, his campaign is in deeply trouble, and ron paul as well. ron paul has a strong following of devotees in iowa and if he can't produce, the betting among fundraisers and every commentator and everyone else is that the candidates will be in trouble. but the people who can do particularly well, think think, however, are jon huntsman who got into the race late and who as i understand it from the polling is picking up traction. newt gingrich who i thought debated superbly well and effective and he has been down

four our 5% in the polls could come up, and so candidates like pawlenty or bachmann or romney, it is i don't want to say make or break, but the stakes are high and they is a lot to lose. for others down low in the polls if they have a good showing, they have nothing but to gain. >> and julian, we know that iowa is expected to be a swing state in 2012 and president obama won there in 2008, but the approval rating there for him is below 50%, so is romney the one they r are looking for or could rick perry take over? >> well, i think that rick perry is a roman candle with not enough substance and gas. and mitt romney is the front-runner and the one that everyone is watching. don't discount michele bachmann, because she is very, very good on her feet, and don't discuss tim pawlenty who is showing momentum, and the issue for president obama is that he cannot make this a referendum election, but election of choice

and to do that he has to define the issue and the issue has to be about jobs and what the government can do to restart the economy, and he has to have affirmative answers and he cannot be counting on the missteps and the gaffes and the lack of ideas of the republicans, and it has to be a choice election and if he can frame it in coming months he will be in better shape than today. >> democratic strategist julian epstein, thank you. >> thank you, jonathan. and many of the candidates have been affected by religion and how much it will bleed into their role as president of the united states. and within the field of the possible candidates the two most at t attached to faith are tim pawlenty and michele bachmann. and frank is the author of "god, trust and politics." and it seems that you cannot avoid talking about religion

when talking about tim pawlenty and michele bachmann. >> yes, you have two different types of candidates running this year. you genuine fanatics sincere about their belief like michele bachmann who read my father's book at oral roberts law school, and then people who are pretending to be sympathetic to the tea party and the religious right and the far right, and those candidates between those two groups, they all have to pay lip service to a kind of religious extremism thatm cops out of the anti-abortion movement, the tea party, the anti-obama movement, but really, religion is a big deal in year's primary. >> frank, texas governor rick perry is set to officially announce his run tomorrow, and timothy egan has an interesting article that says when rick perry prays to god, they tend not to be answered. when he prays for rain, they

have a severe drought, and when he prays for prosperity, the oil tanks. so does god listen to him? well, politicians tend to take his name in vain for purposes if you took the religion he says he believes seriously, you know, you would assume that you shouldn't use god's name in this context anymore than i should say that god endorsed my latest book and you should buy it. this is not normally the way that religion is supposed to be used. and so when he calls a national prayer meeting and says he is a christian, and in his bible is a passage saying that when you pray go into the closet and do it in secret and don't let other people see your good works, and the republican field, and rick perry and michele bachmann and sarah palin sniffing around the edge, and these people use religion the way that old-time snake oil salesmen used to use their, you know, their patent medicine labels and it is rather disgusting from the point of view of religion and that is where we are at. essentially, what we have got

now is a bunch of people who use religion as a patent medicine to give themselves some kind of credibility with a bloc of 20% of the american voters who believe for instance that the world was created in six days and the earth is 6,000 years old, and that israel has to be there because it foretells the coming of christ, and there is a small group of americans who are literal about this, and this little bloc of people happens to have the republican party in a hammer lock through the primary process. they don't represent the nation, but they represent the people who have the primaries in a hammer lock. >> and frank, i know it is early, but can michele bachmann or any republican can give president obama a return for the president? >> no, a lot of people not on the religious right understand everything that as the first african-american president, he has been up against a racist white bloc in the republican

party come dressed as the tea par party, and the religious right and what they what about is to see him fail, and most americans understand that he cannot succeed, because he has not been dealing with a loyal opposition to put the country first, but he has been dealing with a group of republicans who have been bound as rush limbaugh said from day one wanted to see him fail. that is what this is all about, and everything else is a footnote. most americans understand that in a second term, he is going to come out swinging and do a lot more than in the first term when the obstructionists have been swept out of the way. i predict that. >> and on that note, frank schaeffer, thank you, and be sure to watch msnbc's special coverage of the ames, iowa, straw poll tomorrow. and coming up, we have seen revolutions across the arab world, and is china next? i love that my daughter's part fish. but when she got asthma, all i could do was worry ! specialists, lots of doctors, lots of advice...

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welcome back. milissa rehberger is in the newsroom with stories developing right now. milissa? >> hi, jonathan. police in the uk are preparing for the possibility of more riots as the country moves into the first full weekend after the anarchy began. after the controversial shooting began, the country erupted into fires and looting. today, thousands of extra police officers are flooding the streets to make sure that weekend drinking does not lead to more unrest. this week, 600 people have been charged with disorder and violence and looting alone. this week, the obama administration has responded to the ruling of the 11th circuit court of appeals in atlanta which says that the mandate of every american having to purchase health care is unconstitutional. and as saw here live a few moments ago, the president welcomed the super bowl champion green bay packers, and you would not tell by the handshakes, but

the packers are rivals to the president's hometown team the bears. they beat the pittsburgh steelers xxx3 1 to 25 to win th super bowl. and a wild week on wall street. [ male announcer ] notebooks,

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i'm saijal patel, and the market is adding on 104 points for the dow jones and s&p up 4.04 points and the nasdaq gaining 12 points. as many as 120,000 postal workers could get pink slips delivered to their own mailboxes. the financially strapped postal service wants to also pull employees out of the federal health and benefit packages that

cover their workers. and also, people who do not want to use the pesty instruments in the trunk, goodyear says it will monitor the tire's own pressure, and will fix itself, and no word on when it hits the tire racks and how much it will cost. that is it for cnbc, first in business worldwide. jonathan, back to you. >> thank you. and by now we are all familiar with the term of arab spring, a collection of uprisings earlier in the year that brought about demonstrations in tunisia and shortly thereafter in egypt. but what you may not be as familiar with are the jazmine protests that hit china after the sho the uprisings in the spring. we are going to talk to james who authored a book about the jasmine protests.

>> well, this is happening earlier in the year as my wife and i were in beijing for a couple of months this year, and after the arab protests that swept across that part of the world, there were inklings of the same thing in china, and first peaceful marches in beijing and shanghai and immediately the government cracked down very hard. there was a sense of trying to have the same kind of civil lib er tis protest that we had seen in the arab countries, but the response was quite different in china. >> and i would ask you that the protests had a lot of fuel from young men who were unhappy with their situations, but in china, the same could not be said there, because the state had a big response compared to the actual protesters, right? >> yes, there was a mystery. most of the observers foreign and chinese tried to explain about what was happening in china, because objectively as you say, all of the things that propel the arab protests were not true of china. the chinese economy is a success

and not a big pool of underemployed young people, because there are few young people with the one-child policy, and it is the case while people in china have grievances against the government, most people believe that the regime in china is more popular with the people than the democratically elected regimes around the world and certainly mubarak and why this is happening was a mystery and why the government was respond sog harshly is what we tried to figure out. >> in the article, you mentioned that presidential campaign jon huntsman who was a presidential candidate at that time was present and it caused a stir. >> yes, this was the second week of protests in beijing and jon huntsman with the ambassador then, was dressed as a character from top gun and he had on aviator sunglasses and aviator jacket, and he was caught by protesters in the beijing area, and the natural assumption by

the japanese mainstream media and the bloggers is that this showed that the u.s. was behind fomenting these protests, so there was a huge mishap, and ambassador hunsman said it was all a coincidence. >> thank for being with us today. >> my pleasure. what a while and woolly week on wall street. the markets took investors on a roller coaster ride unlike anything we've seen since 2008. vera gibbons is with us. hello. >> hello, jonathan. >> this is like watching a bungee cord. >> it is. >> is this the new normal? >> reminisce ntd of 2008 when you see the wilding wild swings. didn't see quite as much of this as early in the week. 400 point swing, 500 point swings. some cleared. volatility is expected to continue because of global economic concern, the european debt crisis and economic data

mixed. when there's uncertainty there's volatility. >> in positive signs coming out of this week? what are they? >> there were some positive sign. right? retail sales were up in july. the biggest gain since march. fewer foreclosures in july. initial jobless claims down. remember, too, corporate earnings have been strong. we'll be looking to see monday whether were can build on the gains we saw today or go back further into declines. >> mortgage rates at historic lows. >> uh-huh. >> will all the refinancing help boost the economy at all? >> investors are pouring money taking mortgages down with it. you could see more people actually ge out and bay home. a positive for that. refis are up. people are doing that. whether it actually does much to boost the economy is questionable given a big macro economic picture, the confidence level of consumers now, sentiment for today, down to the lowest level in more than three decades. all of the head winds preventing a typical spike we normally see.

>> i don't think i heard you actually angst first question, which is, is this a bunking cord? a new normal? >> the answer, the new normal for the foreseeable future until the future is clear. how about that? >> -- sure. if you could map out the next month, what are we looking at? >> oil has been going down. gas prices going down with it. energy guys saying gas price koss drop by as much as 50 cents over the next two weeks. at $3.60 now. welcome relief for consumers really struggling now. >> nod all bad news. vera gibbons, thank very much. we'll be right back to "clear the air." every day, all around the world,

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the it's now time to "clear the air". we all know michele bachmann has a loose relationship with the facts. whether it's about this country's founding -- >> how unique in all of the world that one nation that was the resting point from people groups all across the world, it didn't matter the kwler of their skin it didn't matter their language, it didn't matter their economic status.

it didn't matter whether they descended from nobility or a higher class or a lower class. it made no difference. once you got here, we were all the same. isn't that remarkable? >> more about the role of the founding fathers in this nation's original sin and constant curse slavery. >> i think it is high time that we recognize tcontribution of or forbearers who worked tirelessly, men like john quincy adams who would not rest until slavery was extinguished in the country. >> it should come as no surprise she continues the lie raising the debt ceiling congress gave president obama "a blank check" to spend $2.4 trillion. they said as fact, a lie she repeated to lester holt this morning on the "today" show. >> that you cannot turn the economy around if you give

barack obama a blank check fors $2.4 trillion in exchange for looser cuts. >> no, congresswoman, bachmann, everything you just said is a false statement. raising the debt ceiling as lester holt correctly state dd not increase government spending. it guarantees that the united states won't become a deadbeat. that it will pay the bills already rung up by congress, and an institution, by the way, bachmann has been a part of for three terms now. such falsehoods may go over well for folks participating in the ames straw poll tomorrow or republican primary voters in general, but they are a disservice to any american desperate to understand why the economy is in a shambles and why washington seems incapable of doing anything about it. thanks for watching. i'm jonathan capehart. it's a pleasure sitting in for martin this week. you can always find me at washingtonpost.com back slash

postpart gann. what do you in this afternoon? >> hey, jonathan, two democratic congress people coming by who are finally thinking big on jobs and on the debt ceiling. a definitive look at the underbelly of rick perry, plus confused dogs an and an alien invasion. i'm serious. the show starts right now. breaking news -- the wild week on wall street is over. down, up, down, up, and up again. since last week's s&p downgrade, the totals look like this. overall the dow wound up basically where it opened monday. all the sound of and fury for this. rest easy out there. we will not analyze this again today. your 401(k) can take the weekend off. instead, we're going to concentrate on our big story, the plan. i'm matt miller. dylan ratigan is hard at work o